Showing posts with label Colin Hosten. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Colin Hosten. Show all posts

Thursday, October 15, 2020

Over the Moon by Colin Hosten, Yujia Wang, Sia Dey

Rating: WARTY!

Written by Hosten and Dey, and illustrated nicely by Wang, this book unfortunately did not really impress me. It's based on the Netflix original animated movie of the same name and it tells the story of Fei Fei and Chang'e. Fei Fei wants to pursue her nebulous dream, and she builds a rocket ship that takes her to the Moon where she meets some oddball characters, none of whom seem that interested in helping her, and all of whom seem to be more style than substance. Fei Fei seems persistently unable to complete her rather empty and ill-defined quest.

In the end we're told - rather like the stories that end with 'and it was all a dream' - that she already had love all along. I felt like I was reading the last scene from Wizard of Oz, and the next thing we'd hear would be Fei Fei being told that all she had to do all laong was to click her heels together. I'm sorry but despite the pretty illustrations, this book really did nothing for me and I find it hard to believe it will have much effect on children. It was really more about appearances than substance and never seems like it had any heart. I can't commend it. It was too empty to hold any promise.